Let me pose another question. When fishing for these mountain gems, we all - at one time or another - hook a monster shiner, or 4" fallfish, or chub. Some of these little buggers put up quite a fight and must surely be exhausted by the time we release them. And they seem to be real easy to foul hook.

Are you plagued by the same guilt when you release a 3" war paint shiner that you just foul hooked through the eye?

Do you feel guilty but just not quite as bad as you would if that had been a 9" brookie?

Not casting any aspersions here, guys and gals... just wondering if (for Hans specifically) there are degrees of guilt involved.

Similarly, if you're fishing for smallies and end up with a catfish on the line, do you feel as bad/concerned about releasing the catfish as you would about the smallie?

I really believe that we tend to place higher values on, and attribute higher order qualities to, fish that we have specifically targeted as game fish?